Steele becomes new RNC Chairman
After several ballots at yesterday’s RNC meeting, Michael Steele, former Maryland lieutenant governor and GOPAC chairman, was elected as chairman of the party.
Steele trailed early on in the balloting, but after several notable candidates dropped out, including the most recent chairman, Mike Duncan, Steele became the likely winner.
Steele, an African-American and Catholic, is noted mainly for his ability to organize, his welcoming of new and social media, and strong fiscal conservatism.
He also sees the Republican Party as the conservative alternative in the United States and not something to apologize for. In a conference call with bloggers earlier in this campaign, Steele said he was “sick and tired” of the “whining” in the Republican Party and that the party should quit pretending to be “Democrat-lite”.
“If I wanted to be a Democrat, having grown up in Washington DC and living for twenty years in the bluest of blue states of Maryland, I would have been,” said Steele. “We are the conservative party.”
Steele headlined at the RPV Advance last month and is popular amongst members of the GOP in Virginia said Virginia Party Chairman Jeff Frederick.
“This is a great day for our party — a historic day — and I am excited to begin the Michael Steele era at the RNC,” said Frederick. “We are in…need of a leader who can reach out and bring new people into the Party of Lincoln. Chairman Steele is that person,” said Frederick.
Attorney General Bob McDonnell, Republican candidate for governor, also was glad to see Michael Steele elected to the post. McDonnell says that Steele represents a party that welcomes voters who believe in freedom, free markets, individual liberties, personal responsibility and equal opportunity.
But McDonnell recognizes that taking that message to all voters in Virginia is not only key to GOP success, but will take a great deal of effort.
“We have a lot of work to do to attract new voters, and to take our common sense message to every neighborhood and community in Virginia and across the country. That is the kind of campaign we are running in Virginia this year. A campaign that is welcoming, open and vigorous. A campaign dedicated to speaking with every voter, and demonstrating why our Party has the solutions our nation needs at this critical moment in our history,” said McDonnell. “I am excited by his election, and I look forward to working with Chairman Steele to win this year in Virginia”
Category: Campaigns and Elections
Loading ...
[...] Micheal Steele elected as chairman of the Republican National Committee Former MD Lt. Gov. Steele was elected yesterday as the new chairman of the RNC: [...]
It seems like a good choice, Steele is a moderate Republican and fiscal conservative at a time when the extreme brand of conservatism favored by Bush/ Cheney has been sorely discredited.
It’ll be interesting to see how he – an intellectual – will face off against Palin for the future of the party in the coming years.
Mark, at some point in your life, you’ll have to realize how much JR and I laugh at your obsession with Bush.
As a transplanted Marylander and pro-inclusion Republican, it’s great to have Steele as RNC Chairman.
I’m optimistic about this choice. He’s a good communicator and is in an excellent position to show how strong the GOP principles are. GOP principles are very inclusive and our tent is big enough for everyone who recognizes them.
“A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency or simply to swell its numbers.” ~ Ronald Reagan, 1975
“I don’t know about you, but I’m impatient with those Republicans who, after the last election, rushed into print saying we must broaden the base of our party, when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.” ~ Ronald Reagan, 1975
I don’t quote Reagan to look back but to look forward, because he’s right. As Steele said, we don’t win by being Democrat-lite. But we do need to clearly communicate that our ideas include all people. They aren’t old white male ideas. Single moms also want to keep more of the money they earn. Asians are punished by race based quotas in our publicly funded colleges and universities. Small business owners from the Middle East are punished by tax rates that discourage achievement. African-American and Hispanic boys and girls are most penalized by a system that is more concerned with protecting union members than educating children who are trapped in failing, inner-city schools.
We need to highlight these realities. And then, we need to support our rising GOP leaders who share our principles – especially women and minorities who can not only articulate those principles but demonstrate that our ideas are for everyone.
So now we have our own “Magic Negro”?
The fact is Michael Steele’s election has proved it to me that the Republicans will not change in the direction they need to. They can expect to be in the minority for quite some time to come.
Here is what another conservative has to say about this.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/deacesteelernc
Bush destroyed our country – I have to laugh thinking what it must be to be in the 25% who don’t read enough, or care enough to realize this. Let’s tally it up:
- 2 wars, neither fought successfully
- Lied to America to get into Iraq
- Failed to protect America on 9/11
- Gave those who were responsible for failing to protect America medals of Freedom
- Tried to cut the pay of the military
- Failed to provide for the healthcare needs of the military/ tried to cut the VA
- Made mercenaries a way of our life in order to transfer wealth to political supporters
- Mercenaries made our military’s job tougher in Iraq by indescriminately killing
- Mercenaries made us look like fools to the world as they violated the laws of Armed conflict
- Violated domestic and international law by endorsing torture
- Turned much of the world against us by using torture, going it alone, opening Guantanamo, tacitly approving Abu Garib (though only enlisted were punished) and generally having the worst foreign policy in our nation’s history
- Politicized the reconstruction of Iraq with early 20 something children who had worked on the campaign – and didn’t know what they were doing, rather than allowing State to use the professionals – leading directly to the unnecessary deaths of American servicepersonnel
- Allowing Rummy to play out his war, his way ignoring the professionals and thus not having enough troops, killing additional Americans unnecessarily
- Generally treating the military – as Joe Scarborough put it the other morning: the GOP has been treating the military like little toy soldiers to be played with on a map
- The fact that both he and Cheney are draft dodgers doesn’t help
- Politicizing career positions at DOJ, EPA, etc
- Politicizing prosecutions by federal prosecutors – including firing GOP prosecutors, one of whom I know, for not prosecuting democrats enough…
Bush was an awful President who damaged our nation and is directly responsible for the deaths of American citizens and the unnecessary deaths of American servicemen and women. Of course I’m pissed, I want to see his ass investigated and, if necessary, prosecuted. We are all EQUAL under the law, it is the Constitution that makes our nation great, not the people who live under it. If the President and his lackys choose to ignore or flaunt the law, and moreover, if their actions get Americans killed or are illegal, they should all be held accountable. Our nation and our military is not some plaything.
Good ol’ bipartisan Mark
Michael Steele will represent and guide the party well.
Mark perhaps you & Michael Moore can collaborate on “George Bush Moved My Cheese”.
The point here in Michael Steele’s election as RNC Chair and the future ahead of us is that this is no longer the past. We need to stop griping and sniping over what George Bush or anyone else did before us. George kept us safe. Period. That is the end of anything that we need to go on anymore.
We have a future ahead of us, and it’s going to take some amazingly dynamic people to lead us successfully into that future. After meeting Michael Steele, I don’t see how anyone could NOT come away with hope for that future. But for those who weren’t as equally impressed with him, that’s your perrogative. But, it’s a misused perrogative to sit back and complain now about what you think is not going to happen. We have a future ahead of us; and if we want this to be a fantastic future, we can only look within ourselves to see what we’re going to make of it. Why start cutting it down before we even get there?
I, personally, am looking forward to the charisma and personality that Steele will bring to the Republican Party. God knows we need it. And, we need to stop all of the backward thinking and commenting amongst ourselves. If we can’t present a positive future within our own ranks, how can expect anyone else to take that from us?
Brian…Mark is hardly being partisan. He’s actually making a good argument supporting his case. However, I’ll be interested to see the Obama laundry list after only four years. Shoot…it’s pretty long after only one week!
Of course, Mark is a little extreme in his desire to see an investigation.
As long as national GOP factions join the Virginia GOBs retreating to the Hillbilly Hideaway, don’t expect to find any path out of the wilderness.
Yeah Mark we hear you but where is your outrage for the countless lives being lost in Gaza right now while your guy sits on his hands trying to find out which cabinet position appointee is going to have another shoe drop. Obama is off to a great start with his world view of Foriegn Policy and let see what happens around the world now that Blackwater has lost security agreements that were assigned to our own government officials and those doing business in the ME.
Leadership is proving alot tougher than rhetoric now isn’t it Mark? Oh, what to do, what to do.
I can start with this Jim, I’m disappointed in Obama for not removing Daschle’s name from consideration for Secretary of HHS. Heck, then Sen. Daschle served on the Finance Committee, if he can’t figure out how to do his taxes none of us should be expected to…
Alter – the world – and American foreign policy – will be far better now that the mercenaries known as blackwater are gone from Iraq. They did incredible damage to our reputation in Iraq and as a result cost countless American lives thanks to their cowboy tactics and shoot first, shoot second method. I say good riddance and bring on the federal IGs/ prosecutors to investigate blackwater and the lawless mercs who make up that organization for criminal actions in Iraq and questionable contracting issues in America.